Seminary leaders participate in historic German Baptist meetings

FORT WORTH, Texas (SWBTS) – Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary representatives participated in recent meetings in Germany to encourage Russian-German and German Baptists to cooperate with one another in advancing the Gospel.

Southwestern President Paige Patterson and Executive Vice President and Provost Craig Blaising were included in a delegation of seven Southern Baptists who addressed nearly 1,000 Baptist pastors in Lemgo, Germany, May 21-24. Southwestern Seminary has had a connection to Russian-German Baptists since 2005, when it established an extension center at the Bibelseminar Bonn. According to Baptist Press (BP), several German Baptist leaders were inspired to organize the conference during a visit to Southwestern Seminary in 2007.

As reported by BP, Heinrich Derksen, president of Bibelseminar Bonn, said, “I wanted our pastors to get to know the SBC and their strong and conservative theology and their influence in society so our small, weak and not-so-organized churches will be encouraged to cooperate in Germany. Never before were so many Russian-German pastors and preachers from different groups and churches in one conference together. We realized how much we have in common and that we need each other to reach our goals to evangelize Germany, Europe and the world.”

Southwestern Seminary celebrates its centennial in 2008. Since its founding, the seminary has trained and sent out over 40,000 graduates to serve in local churches and mission fields around the world. In 1908, B.H. Carroll established the seminary on the campus of Baylor University. It was moved to its current location on Seminary Hill in Fort Worth in 1910 and was placed under the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1925. Paige Patterson was elected as the eighth president of the seminary in 2003.